Translation is an art.
To what degree it is thus depends upon the circumstances under which the
translation is executed and the type of translation the situation requires. In
any case, the translator who attempts do reduce his craft to an exact science is
dooming himself to mediocrity at best. True, there is a certain class of
relatively simple utterances for which translation, depending upon the nature of
the source language and target language, is a relatively straightforward task.
There is nothing complicated, for example, about rendering "I can’t see" into
Spanish as No puedo ver. The only real ambiguity in such a case as this
would be whether or not to include the subject pronoun yo, which verbal
inflection renders optional. In regards to this question, it might be surmised
that yo would do perfectly well here but would be more appropriate if the
original sentence was written "I cannot see," in which case the inclusion of the
pronoun would imitate the formality of the latter expression just as its
exclusion imitates the concision of the former. Possible variations such as
these, although minor and largely inconsequential, nonetheless reflect the
broader issues that arise in translating the more complex language encountered
in functional bilingual life.

There is a translation
spectrum between literal (direct, absolute, word-for-word) and adaptive
(involving loose rendering of meaning and outright alterations in detail and/or
style). The ideal location of a translator’s work on this spectrum depends on
the context, demands, and nature of the translation. However, the two extremes
(super-literal and super-adaptive) should always be avoided. The translator’s
craft is a balancing act. The fulcrum may shift according to circumstance and,
to a lesser extent, the translator’s own aptitudes and preferences, but it never
moves entirely or even very nearly to one end or the other.

There is quite possibly
no other type of translation that demonstrates this more clearly than the
translation of poetry and song lyrics, which shall be referred to collectively
as lyrical translation. Lyrical translation adds a whole other dimension to the
task, since besides grammatical, stylistic, and idiomatic considerations, there
is also rhythm, beat, and, in the case of song translation, melody to
accommodate. In translating lyrics meant to be sung, the challenge reaches its
peak. In the words of Friedrich Schleiermacher, "How often […] does one find
fidelity to rhythm and melody caught in irreconcilable conflict with fidelity to
dialectic and grammar." In translating songs, the drive to render meaning
faithfully and the drive to preserve rhythm, melody, and beat seem forever to
mutually oppose each other. All too often, the translator faced with this
daunting dilemma ultimately makes a choice to favor one at the expense of the
other and slips into what Schleiermacher called "a pertinacious one-sidedness."

In essence, there are
two types of lyrical translation. The first type, solum sensui (Latin:
"only with respect to meaning"), is the least difficult. Little more than
literal translation, it involves all considerations involved in, for instance,
the translation of literary or academic prose (grammatical, stylistic,
idiomatic) but has no pretense of being musically compatible. An example of this
sort of lyrical translation follows, using a song from a recent American movie.

It’s
hard to believe
That I couldn’t see
That you were always there beside me.
Thought I was alone
With no one to hold, But you
were always right beside me.

Some
transposition/modulation is evident in the translated verse, but the meaning is
conveyed exactly as it is in the original. However, if you were to listen to the
song itself and then try to sing it, it would expectedly sound awkward and
discordant. The singer would find himself mincing syllables or omitting them
altogether in the attempt to match the foreign lyrics to the original tune.
Plus, some rhythm is also lost. Although creer and ver do rhyme,
the extra syllable in the second line disrupts the effect of the rhyme. The
syllables simply don’t match up with the musical notes as they did in the
original song. The musical-lyrical accordance is destroyed in translation. The
only way to restore it is to change the foreign words so that they rhyme and fit
the beat and meter of each line, but in doing this the translator loses
equivalence. This is the central problem in lyrical translation.

The second type of song
translation, pro canendo (Latin: "for singing"), is based on at least an
attempt to resolve this inherent conflict. It acknowledges that, between
absolute fidelity to meaning and perfect musical compatibility, you simply
cannot have it both ways. Pro canendo translation makes no pretense of
magically making meaning and music a perfect fit. That is just as impossible as
it is to fit a square peg into a circular hole. However, we can treat that
square peg as if it were made of clay instead of rigid plastic. By kneading it
and molding it, we can shape it into a sphere that will then fit into the
aforementioned circular hole. The substance is maintained, but the form changes.
That is the basic concept behind the pro canendo approach. The idea is to
stay as faithful as possible to the original meaning while expressing that
meaning in foreign words that fit the rhythm, beat, and melody of the song.
Inevitably, some specific meaning is lost, but the goal is to minimize that loss
and to maintain a strong overall resemblance in meaning between the original
lyrics and the translation.

Let us return to the
verse translated above and examine a pro canendo translation of the same
lyrics.

It’s
hard to believe
That I couldn’t see
That you were always there beside me.
Thought I was alone
With no one to hold,
But you were always right beside me.

We find here some
strategic paraphrasing. The only true loss of meaning is that of anything
resembling "no one to hold," which was sacrificed in order to facilitate a
rhyme. However, most of the original meaning is preserved while rhythm beat, and
melodic compatibility is completely restored. If you try to sing the above
Spanish lyrics, you will find that they roll much more naturally with the tune
to which they are intended to be sung. This is the goal of pro canendo
translation. It is by no means easy and often takes two or three hours of
trial-and-error and perhaps even a succession of distinct drafts, but the result
is very rewarding.

THREE PILLARS OF
PRO CANENDO TRANSLATION

When translating a song
pro canendo, there are two or three (depending on the target language)
aspects of the song one must analyze and consider when writing the foreign
lyrics: rhythm, syllabication, and melodic stress. For purposes of example, let
us take from the same recently debuted film as the aforementioned a different
but no less worthy song. The first verse reads like this:

We’re
soarin’,
Flyin’.
There’s
not a star in heaven that we can’t reach
If we’re
tryin’,
So we’re
breaking free.

Rhythm

Simply put, rhythm is
the repetition of vowel sounds, mostly at the ends of lines in poetry or song
lyrics. A rhyme scheme is the pattern in which those repeated vowel sounds
occur. Rhyme may consist of only a repeated vowel sound, or a terminal consonant
that follows the vowel may also be repeated. Furthermore, sequences of vowels in
two or three syllables may also be repeated. For example, "feeling" and "seeing"
would constitute a bisyllabic rhyme, but "soaring" and "flying" only constitute
a monosyllabic rhyme. In translating song lyrics, there is some flexibility in
fidelity to a rhyme scheme consisting of multisyllabic rhymes, but the rule is
that if any rhyme exists between a pair, triplet, or quartet of lines, there
should at least be a corresponding monosyllabic rhyme in the translation.

It may help the
translator to tabulate the rhyme scheme throughout the song. For example:

We’re soarin’

A

Flyin’.

A

There’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach.

B

If we’re tryin’,

A

So we’re breaking free.

B

Syllabication

This refers to the
number of syllables in each line. One should be careful not to look strictly at
the lyrics when counting syllables. If the music calls for the singer to draw
out what would otherwise be one syllable into two or more syllables (Think of
how the monosyllabic appellation "Mom" becomes a bisyllabic "Mo-om!" in the
mouth of a whining child), this grants the translator some extra liberty, as he
then has the option of keeping the lengthened word as a monosyllable and using
the extra syllable to insert a separate foreign word that enhances fidelity to
meaning.

Tabulation may also be
useful in analyzing syllabication.

We’re soarin’

3

Flyin’.

2

There’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach.

11

If we’re tryin’,

4

So we’re breaking free.

5

Melodic Stress

This refers to the
stress imposed on certain syllables by the melodic beat. This is the only aspect
of pro canendo song translation that may or may not apply depending on
the nature of the target language. If you are translating song lyrics into a
stress-dependent language (meaning that the location of the stress in an
otherwise identical word makes a difference in meaning, as in Spanish trabajo
and trabajó), it is a factor that must be considered. If the target
language is not stress-dependent (like English or French), it can be wholly
disregarded.

If melodic stress is a
factor, the stress imposed on certain syllables by the beat of the song must
correspond with the standard spoken stress in the foreign word. Any syllable or
sequence of syllables not stressed by the beat are ambiguous and can be treated
thus, but a syllable stressed by the beat must be the same as that which is
stressed in speech.

One tactic for handling
melodic stress is drawing from certain classes of words. If the beat of a song
places the stress at the end of a line, for example, one who is translating it
into Spanish can at least begin by attempting to structure a sentence that ends
the line in a future tense verb, an infinitive, a noun ending in –dad, a
monosyllable, etc.

Tabulation may also be
helpful in addressing melodic stress. Here, a /*/ indicates an unstressed
syllable and a /^/ indicates a stressed syllable.

We’re soarin’

*^*

Flyin’.

^*

There’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach.

***^*^****^

If we’re tryin’,

**^*

So we’re breaking free.

**^**

Having considered all
these factors, the sample verse given above might be rendered in Spanish as:

As challenging as
pro canendo translation can be, there are a few useful strategies that can
be applied (besides the two mentioned above). One highly important tactic is to
analyze the lyrics and determine any key elements of meaning that you think are
central to the song and are unwilling to sacrifice. The translator may also
reverse the order of lines within a verse in order to accommodate better rhythm.
He or she may add minor modifiers if a translated line is actually shorter than
the original or restructure a sentence so that the right word occurs at the end
of a line. There is no rule against being cunning in song translation.

Another trick is best
exemplified by my Spanish rendition of the following verse.

This
could be the…
Start of something new!
It feels so right
To be here with you.
And now, looking in your eyes,
I feel in my heart
The start of something new.

I found the ideas of
feeling something in one’s heart and looking or seeing in someone’s eyes to be
key elements of meaning, but I simply could not find away to mention both
ojos and corazón in the same verse and carry similar meaning. I
noticed, however, that this refrain was repeated four times (an even number).
So, I wrote two different versions of the refrain, one mentioning a feeling in
the singer’s heart and the other mentioning looking in someone’s eyes, and
alternated them throughout the song.

Because of such
strategies, the lack of direct equivalence, and the compromise that must be made
between meaning and music, pro canendo translation shares one thing in
common with pure adaptation. It involves the writing of poetry in a foreign
language that is, in a sense, original. All viable pro canendo lyric
translations have an element of originality in their very nature that results
inherently from the challenge the translator faces. Translation is an art, and
lyrical translation is one of the most artistic types of translation in
existence. In the effort to maintain the highest degree of equivalence possible
while trimming and reshaping meaning to accommodate function, some limited
autonomy is yielded. A pro canendo translation retains some artistic
merit independent of the original lyrics while simultaneously remaining a
distinctly derivative work. The translation is executed with all due respect and
homage to the original lyricist. Let no song translation be printed without both
the name of the lyricist and that of the translator in its heading. For the
former to be omitted would be outright plagiarism. For the latter to be omitted
would be an insult to his or her efforts.